MMMmmm I think I've seen Kirk canoodle on duty,
But then again I've seen bosses being hypocrites once or twice.
True but when needed Landon defended herself, and didn't hide behind Chekov and say "I'm frightened" waiting for her man to save her.
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But then again I've seen bosses being hypocrites once or twice.
Just another quick note about "The Changeling" and the bit about Nomad absorbing a torpedo and Kirk being amazed, vs. the Enterprise taking hits of 90 times that amount. The difference must be that the Enterprise is deflecting the energy off into space, while Nomad's ability to completely absorb a torpedo's energy rather than deflect it is what's remarkable. Nomad takes a torpedo like a bug on the windshield.
Please don't put "Nu" anything and realistic in the same sentence without a huge NOT in between.
We really do need some backstory here.
Your agonizer please...Yikes, you're right! I jotted down "Barrows" in my initial notes and then never bothered to double check the transcript.
Slapped wrist for me!
No argument there! But when Kirk canoodles on duty, it's usually to further the mission (Conscience Of The King, Catspaw) or when he's not in his right mind (Dagger Of The Mind). You could count Shore Leave I suppose but then again, everyone was on holiday that week!
MMMmmm I think I've seen Kirk canoodle on duty,
But then again I've seen bosses being hypocrites once or twice.
I like that explanation but then we would need to ignore the words of the normally very precise science officer:
The annoying thing is that he describes the attack as being "repulsed" a few lines later. If only he could have stuck with that!
Fortunately those only exist in the Mirror Universe and I don't see us going there anytime soon - oh.
Yes, Celeste Yarnell was trained in Judo I think. Often the actresses had far more balls than their characters and have to roll their eyes at the sexist writing (e.g. Qpid). I wonder if giving her an action scene was a spur of the moment thing on the day because she had training and put herself forward or if it was always scripted?
MMMmmm I think I've seen Kirk canoodle on duty,
But then again I've seen bosses being hypocrites once or twice.
True but when needed Landon defended herself, and didn't hide behind Chekov and say "I'm frightened" waiting for her man to save her.
Fortunately those only exist in the Mirror Universe and I don't see us going there anytime soon - oh.
But which Mirror Universe? There seem to be quite a few of them! DSC even has it's own!
JB
The awesome action scene where Landon front kicks the native was performed by stuntwoman Julie Johnson as stunt double.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Julie_Johnson
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x05hd/theapplehd1240.jpg
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x05/theapple_509.jpg
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x05hd/theapplehd1241.jpg
Cool! I didn't know that. Sounds planned then. What a shame they didn't do it more often , such as Uhura in Gamesters.
Uhura managed to fend off the guy behind closed doors.
Perhaps her short skirt didn't support high kicks being seen on camera.
Well that wasn't Uhura that was screaming in the cell, I know it was supposed to be but it was a taped screaming sound which has been heard all through the series! Does anyone know who performed the scream or how many times it was used?
JB
JB
"Court Martial" or more disturbingly "Requiem for Methuselah". . His crew was dying and he was romancingNo argument there! But when Kirk canoodles on duty, it's usually to further the mission (Conscience Of The King, Catspaw) or when he's not in his right mind (Dagger Of The Mind). You could count Shore Leave I suppose but then again, everyone was on holiday that week!
More like a Hall of Mirror Universes.But which Mirror Universe? There seem to be quite a few of them! DSC even has it's own!
JB
Court Martial at the end of the episode, on the Bridge! Yes, I had forgotten about that one; a very unprofessional display of authority.
I didn't look any further than this week's episode though, because we "haven't seen" those stories yet
However, if I did, I would agree that RFM is problematic in many ways. Headcannon-wise, I tend to rationalise that the landing party were in fact affected by the plague, hence some of their dubious decisions.
The Apple
This has been one of my least favorite episodes, it still is, but this rewatch has forced me to revise my opinion. It also helped me clarify, like with Changeling, why I disliked it so much.
There's 2 themes running through this episode that aren't handled too well, for me anyway.
One is Paradise. Again, that notion that something is paradise is so poorly defined and impossible to pin down, one person's paradise sounds terrible to another. For example, I don't see how jungle green hell = paradise. Humidity, bugs, poisonous plants and bugs, tropical diseases. Yep, that's paradise alright. Forget about Vaal, I'd hate it there. Now maybe those guys are trapped in that can so much any planet with life like that seems nice but I don't think I'd like it, which puts me at odds with this episode, it trying to convince me how wonderful this place is and it not appealing to me at all. Then the "garden of Eden" is mentioned and the title supposedly refers to that story and it's all very silly to me which is especially embodied by the inane closing scene on the Enterprise.
The second theme is sex. Not just Chekov wanting to get something going with Landon, either, but the whole notion of sexual reproduction is really on this writer's mind. Why is it the very first and only observation Kirk, a childless bachelor, makes is "where are the children?" Why does Spock have to even remotely have to discuss sexual reproduction with Landon? I know Dr. McCoy says he's examined them but can't say how old they are and there's that whole conversation about replacements and Vaal would give them instructions. I hate that whole scene when to me it seems most likely that a "replacement" would come out of Vaal, it having grown the replacement internally and sending it out fully grown. These people are made, you could call them clones but I don't think that's the right word because it implies a copy of an original. This is more like how they make people in Brave New World. Vaal manufactures them as needed. I wonder if they even have the necessary organs to have sexual reproduction, they aren't needed to service Vaal.
Overall, I think very poor handling of these concepts really hurts the episode, which otherwise has a lot of good things in it.
The whole crisis with the ship and Scott trying to save it, Kirk's frustration at it's peril and the loss of his people on the ground, Spock's retort to McCoy about the villagers becoming more human because they've learned to kill, I really like Spock and Checkov's distraction, Landon is an actual addition to the party not just a skirt, the plot and setting are actually very interesting minus those parts I mentioned above.
What is Vaal really? Why is it there? Why does it look like a Gorn's cousin? And when it's feeders don't. And is does the entire population of the planet fit in one hut? Are there other settlements at all? Akuta mentions a "Dim Time" before he got his antenna receivers, what was that about? I'd have much rather more of those than making fun of Spock's ears for the xth time.
There's one last thing which is not the episodes fault but I don't like about it which is many other people's version of what happens next. It all goes to the very heart of what this show is about but has been changed by later productions. When this was made, I believe that if thought was given to what was to happen next at all it was surely a prelude to colonizing this planet. Anyone who thinks the Federation just left these people alone really aren't paying attention. This was going to be a new Rigel once everyone gets there, those people were going to be part of the Federation, whether they really wanted to or not. They'd all be sent to school and trained and doing jobs like other Federation citizens do, or maybe in a "reservation" if they insisted not to while the whole rest of the planet was developed. The Federation was searching out planets for development in those days. It's strange how Kirk can tell Cochrane "We're on a thousand planets and spreading out. We cross fantastic distances and everything's alive, Cochrane. Life everywhere. We estimate there are millions of planets with intelligent life. We haven't begun to map them." and then in a later production "How many planets are in this Federation?
Over one hundred and fifty" What!? But that's the attitude shift which has infected so many people's perception of this work. I don't mind the later extrapolation but I prefer this as it's own thing and ignore the spin-offs.
This has been one of my least favorite episodes, it still is, but this rewatch has forced me to revise my opinion. It also helped me clarify, like with Changeling, why I disliked it so much.
There's 2 themes running through this episode that aren't handled too well, for me anyway.
One is Paradise. Again, that notion that something is paradise is so poorly defined and impossible to pin down, one person's paradise sounds terrible to another. For example, I don't see how jungle green hell = paradise. Humidity, bugs, poisonous plants and bugs, tropical diseases. Yep, that's paradise alright. Forget about Vaal, I'd hate it there. Now maybe those guys are trapped in that can so much any planet with life like that seems nice but I don't think I'd like it, which puts me at odds with this episode, it trying to convince me how wonderful this place is and it not appealing to me at all. Then the "garden of Eden" is mentioned and the title supposedly refers to that story and it's all very silly to me which is especially embodied by the inane closing scene on the Enterprise.
The second theme is sex. Not just Chekov wanting to get something going with Landon, either, but the whole notion of sexual reproduction is really on this writer's mind. Why is it the very first and only observation Kirk, a childless bachelor, makes is "where are the children?" Why does Spock have to even remotely have to discuss sexual reproduction with Landon? I know Dr. McCoy says he's examined them but can't say how old they are and there's that whole conversation about replacements and Vaal would give them instructions. I hate that whole scene when to me it seems most likely that a "replacement" would come out of Vaal, it having grown the replacement internally and sending it out fully grown. These people are made, you could call them clones but I don't think that's the right word because it implies a copy of an original. This is more like how they make people in Brave New World. Vaal manufactures them as needed. I wonder if they even have the necessary organs to have sexual reproduction, they aren't needed to service Vaal.
Overall, I think very poor handling of these concepts really hurts the episode, which otherwise has a lot of good things in it.
The whole crisis with the ship and Scott trying to save it, Kirk's frustration at it's peril and the loss of his people on the ground, Spock's retort to McCoy about the villagers becoming more human because they've learned to kill, I really like Spock and Checkov's distraction, Landon is an actual addition to the party not just a skirt, the plot and setting are actually very interesting minus those parts I mentioned above.
What is Vaal really? Why is it there? Why does it look like a Gorn's cousin? And when it's feeders don't. And is does the entire population of the planet fit in one hut? Are there other settlements at all? Akuta mentions a "Dim Time" before he got his antenna receivers, what was that about? I'd have much rather more of those than making fun of Spock's ears for the xth time.
There's one last thing which is not the episodes fault but I don't like about it which is many other people's version of what happens next. It all goes to the very heart of what this show is about but has been changed by later productions. When this was made, I believe that if thought was given to what was to happen next at all it was surely a prelude to colonizing this planet. Anyone who thinks the Federation just left these people alone really aren't paying attention. This was going to be a new Rigel once everyone gets there, those people were going to be part of the Federation, whether they really wanted to or not. They'd all be sent to school and trained and doing jobs like other Federation citizens do, or maybe in a "reservation" if they insisted not to while the whole rest of the planet was developed. The Federation was searching out planets for development in those days. It's strange how Kirk can tell Cochrane "We're on a thousand planets and spreading out. We cross fantastic distances and everything's alive, Cochrane. Life everywhere. We estimate there are millions of planets with intelligent life. We haven't begun to map them." and then in a later production "How many planets are in this Federation?
Over one hundred and fifty" What!? But that's the attitude shift which has infected so many people's perception of this work. I don't mind the later extrapolation but I prefer this as it's own thing and ignore the spin-offs.
Ahhh, interesting. I always wondered whether Ms. Yarnall did that one herself. It is indeed an excellent action scene.
Good analysis, even if it points to a disappointing trend I wasn't really aware of before; that a lot of Season 2 episodes were written to be "good enough" for broadcast but without the full attention to detail and development of themes that made Season 1 so exceptional.
It did cross my mind to wonder if these people even had sex organs. The women have breasts for some reason. Kirk's joking at the end about them making babies, but do we even know if they can?
There is a real vibe of "we are the Civilized Western Colonizing Power, and your way of life is so primitive (never mind if it's working for you), so it is up to us to occupy your land and arrogantly show you how you should be living."
Yes on reflection I don't remember Kirk ever asking any other group of people where their children are. Convenient that Kirk just happens to know the right question to ask.I suppose the question could have been asked legitimately when they were bunking with them at night.
I'm thinking the 1000 planet thing is they had just started colonies on 1000 planets and later only 150 worked out long-term or the later productions weren't counting small colonies like in "This Side of Paradise".
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